The environment at Suma Beach really contradicts some of my preconceived notions about Japan, I believed that the Japanese truly respect their natural environment and are a nation prided on cleanliness and orderly behavior. And for the most part those conceptions hold true, however, I have also found that sometimes a strong sense of indifference is payed to common public spaces. The gardens of every shrine you encounter are impeccably clean and even most city streets are remarkably tidy. The beach is a different story - it is full of treasures but is also full of trash: fast food wrappers, empty cans and bottles, turds, broken glass, rotting fruit, streamers of video tape, a hundred plastic bags and a thousand cigarette butts. Perhaps Suma Beach, or all beaches, are simply a pressure valve for Japanese. . . where they can strip off not just their clothes but also respect for their surroundings?
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kind of like when I see them recycling this and that, but then you see people smoking and throwing their butts into the streams. Or like how you see the people at the train stations cleaning but the station always looks dirty. :)
ReplyDeleteYes exactly! Some people throw their cigarette butts anywhere and everywhere usually not even bothering to stamp them out. I often feel bad for those satiation peoples at the stations - what a Sisyphean task that must be . . .
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